On Sun, 3 Aug 2008 16:45:04 -0700 (PDT), Steve
wrote:

Power *is* present at the wall
switch, though. I know because I pulled the switch out of the wall and
used a multimeter to see that there is 24 volts on it (well, 23.9 to
be exact).

I sort of doubt you have any low voltage, but the other posts should
have helped you figure out whether you do or not.

Regardless, if you want, you can start with this post first.

Regardless of how many volts you are reading, nothing you wrote in
your post indicates you actually tested the switch.

First, where did you connect each wire of the meter?

One probe should be touching the metal box that the switch is in. That
is almost certainly grounded, and you want one probe to be touching
the ground. If actually testing still leaves doubts, post back.

Since the switch is out of the wall, you should have a good view of
both screws to which wires are attached.

Your second probe should be touching first one screw and later the
other, With one of the two screws, and the metal box for the other
probe, you should show 110 to 120 volts AC. If you don't show that,
flip the switch. and see if you get 110. If now you do, the switch is
working.

If you show 110 to begin with, flip the switch aanyhow. If
now you DON"T show 110, the switch is working. If you still show 110,
you have the probe on the "hot" contact of the switch, the one
connected to the wire that comes from the fusebox.


So now move the probe to the other screw. If the first screw was
always hot, this screw should be hot only when the switch is in one of
its two positions. If the first screw was hot
in only one position, then this screw should be hot all the time.

If one screw is hot all the time, and the other screw is never hot,
the switch is bad. Any other situation and you don't know whether
the swtich is bad or not.

I learned to go over this in detail last week by working with a friend
who has a Ph.D. in math and has an important job with a defense
contractor. But he still had not occasion to learn this basic stuff.